Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Snow day." Even though I don't go to school anymore, I hope you get it. I really do. : )

Speaking of hope, I want to share with you something I was thinking about yesterday.

I have a friend, a beautiful friend, who I've known for quite some time. A little after we graduated from college and just a month before her wedding, she found out she had stage four cancer. That's the last stage of cancer before you die.

The past year has been so hard for her and life isn't what she thought it would be. She is in pain a lot and has to fight a lot of fear. My friend has to deal with the real possibility that most of the things she thought she would do in life might not happen. Those things are tougher than I can imagine.

But the really glorious part of the story is that she knows Jesus. She has a relationship with Him and that gives her hope. When she is weak, Jesus gives her the strength to go on. And she can trust that God knows more than she does. But most of all, she can hope for heaven. Everything is going to be alright for my friend because, in the end, there is heaven. When she dies, if it's in two weeks or 50 years, she gets to go be with Jesus. And that's what it's all about.

In our deepest winter, our greatest despair, Jesus is hope.